The NCAA Division I Infractions Appeals Committee has affirmed the findings and penalty imposed last fall against a former assistant football coach at Mississippi State University.

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions released its findings in the case October 27, 2004. It determined the former assistant football coach had made improper recruiting contacts and inducements and engaged in unethical conduct.

The Committee on Infractions imposed a two-year show-cause penalty against the former assistant football coach. The penalty requires any NCAA member institution attempting to hire the former assistant football coach to appear before the Committee on Infractions to determine whether the individual's activities should be limited.

The former assistant football coach appealed the findings and penalty to the Infractions Appeals Committee, which is composed of representatives from the public and NCAA member institutions. It operates independently of the NCAA enforcement staff and Committee on Infractions in hearing appeals of decisions by the Committee on Infractions.

The names of individual coaches, staff members and student-athletes are kept confidential throughout the infractions process.

The Committee on Infractions had determined that the former assistant football coach provided $775, paid in increments of $400 and $375, in impermissible recruiting inducements to a football prospective student-athlete so that the prospective student-athlete could attend two summer courses to gain eligibility to attend Mississippi State. The Committee on Infractions' report stated the prospect used only $400 and was allowed to keep the remainder.

The Committee on Infractions also found that in making the arrangements for the prospective student-athlete to attend summer courses, the former assistant football coach had provided impermissible recruiting inducements to the prospective student-athlete.

The Committee on Infractions determined that the former assistant football coach knowingly violated NCAA bylaws leading the Committee on Infractions to a finding of unethical conduct.

In his appeal to the Infractions Appeals Committee, the former assistant football coach stated that there was no credible evidence that he provided money to the prospective student-athlete. The appeal also stated the prospective student-athlete presented inconsistent testimony against the former assistant football coach.

The Infractions Appeals Committee affirmed the Committee on Infractions' findings and the resulting show-cause penalty.

In its report, the Committee on Infractions noted that the prospective student-athlete's testimony was credible because the prospect was a "reluctant witness" who had no motive for implicating the former assistant football coach. In addition, the prospective student-athlete's testimony was corroborated with bank and telephone records and testimony from the prospective student-athlete's mother and summer school principal. The Committee on Infractions noted that in his testimony, the prospective student-athlete confused the order in which he received the $400 and $375 payments.

"The Committee on Infractions carefully considered the evidence, including inconsistencies alleged by the former assistant football coach and the motivations of the witness. It also weighed the credibility of the prospective student-athlete as well as other witnesses and examined the additional corroborating evidence presented," the Infractions Appeals Committee report states. "Based on the record before us, we conclude that the Committee on Infractions' findings are not clearly contrary to the evidence presented."

The members of the Infractions Appeals Committee are Christopher Griffin, attorney, Foley and Lardner legal firm; William Hoye, associate vice-president and deputy general counsel, University of Notre Dame; Terry Don Phillips, director of athletics, Clemson University; Noel Ragsdale, professor of law, University of Southern California; and Allan Ryan Jr., Harvard Business School Publishing.